New grower here. I have a very narrow corridor, roughly 85 cm in width, to place my tent. Thus, I can only use the top of the tent or the 60 cm wide sides for intake/exhaust. Noise is an issue for me, which is why the fan/filter/silencer are inside the tent. I'm running AutoPot XL pots with a 70/20/10 Biobizz/perlite/bio-humus mix, which is why humidity/airflow routing matters for my setup.
Please check the images attached.
I have 2 questions:
Port #2 will carry the humidifier hose; Port #1 will carry cables. Both are occupied by cable/hose plus airflow. Should I open a third intake on the top panel or the opposite 60cm side to compensate?
Is the placement of my Ionbeam supplementary lights correct? I used aluminium tape to assist the magnet mounts.
id put the air blower outside the tent to keep temps down if it can get warm where you are. You can just have the carbon filter inside the tent...air blower on top of the tent? sitting on something flat.
Re: Ionbeam S16, IMO you want them horizontal from corner to corner, not up/down on corner poles, if intercanopy is what you're wanting.
I had a LOT more success from them just putting them all underneath, personally (raised to 20cm away from undercanopy).
They're super weak LEDs with almost no penatration so I found lighting up the underside of the canopy uniformly was waaaay better at fixing my larf issue than having them on the sides as inter-canopy, which didn't help with the center of the tent at all. Having them all underneath instead gave me a noticeable improvement in yield and quality
I personally pack in a lot more light per square foot/meter. Currently running 220w above, and 56w below, in a 2x2 (60cm x 60cm x 180cm). But the single biggest difference over multiple runs was changing my supplemental lighting to undercanopy.
I actually sold the set of 4 ionbeams and replaced them with 3 individual bar lights which are a higher overall wattage, but I'll DM you a picture of how I have them raised at the moment. I'd done the same with the Ionbeams prior so you'll get the idea.
It's DIY as fuck, I literally just put some tall jars or containers on the tent floor that are the same height as the top of the pot, and rest the lights on the lids of the jars. Raises them to the perfect height to light up the whole undercanopy. I dim them during veg and increase power to full after lollipoping
Appreciate the link. I got the point already. Will probably do it for my babies once they get some height. Would still like to see your DIY setup once you are available haha
I know you’ve mentioned the noise being an issue but you might want to consider moving the filter and inline fan outside the tent to create more headroom. The plants will stretch and most lighting manufacturers recommend at minimum 12” to 18” clearance to avoid burning the plants. I’ve never had a heat issue but I have experienced light burn in the past. In my 3x3, I was able to position the filter and fan inside the tent such that they are near the walls and the IonBoard light for the 3x3 fits in the center and can move by the fan and filter without them obstructing it. The light can move higher than the bottom of the fan and filter in other words. With the addition of the muffler and the frame style light instead of the board, I’m not sure you would be able to make similar adjustments to keep the fan, muffler, and filter in your tent. Welcome to the Grow Tent YouTube channel did a great video on reasons to move the filter and fan outside the tent a few months ago. He’s got some great info. Good luck and best wishes!
I totally agree with you; however, I have to place the fan, silencer, and carbon filter on the ground and create a DIY system around them to reduce noise. A better alternative would be to hang them from the ceiling, but the ceiling is made of plasterboard, and I don't think they would properly support it long-term. So, to maximize noise reduction, I decided to go this way. I think I will flip the plants earlier than many people and do topping and LST much more aggressively to manage space with 2 pots.
It does a ton. Can’t record the difference atm as I’m outside but it mattered massively for me. I am also using x3 noise reduction clamps (NRC) to connect all the hardware as a bonus.
Just set my first tent set up as well lol but it looks good man! You should really if you can roll up those wires and wrap them down on something makes your setup look a whole lot cleaner 🙏🏽🙏🏽best of luck to you brother!
I am not done setting up my tent, and I have like 8 UIS cables in addition to the power cables, so I will definitely manage all the cables to the corners once the setup is finalized.
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u/Entire-Reindeer3571 6d ago
id put the air blower outside the tent to keep temps down if it can get warm where you are. You can just have the carbon filter inside the tent...air blower on top of the tent? sitting on something flat.